


The Future is Ours

by OfMonstersAndWerewolves



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/F, Fluff, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-12 03:07:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15330390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfMonstersAndWerewolves/pseuds/OfMonstersAndWerewolves
Summary: A newly engaged Alice and Robin get into some trouble whilst defending a family and have to evade their pursuers grasp. Later, the two of them have a heart to heart about what their future holds... and what they see it including.





	The Future is Ours

**Author's Note:**

> Finished it! Woo! So I think it's come along well to say I think I was a little overambitious for only my third ever fanfic. Had to try and figure out how I thought Alice's magic worked as I wanted to do a little bit of action and add some tension/stakes. Most, if not all, of my fics will probably be either post-canon or canon compliant (or as much as they can be). I love filling in the gaps.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

“Robin, look out!”. The shrill cry of the blonde woman beside her gave the young archer warning enough to dodge out of the way of the axe that suddenly swung down, hitting the wood of the table she’d been in front of just moments before. Chairs and tables scraped against the wooden floor as the few other people in the tavern stood up and ran to the other side of the room in panic, unable to reach the front entrance which was currently blocked by the three men.

“This has gone far enough! This is my-” The voice of the tavern owner was cut off as the tallest of the three men unsheathed his sword from his belt and lifted it up, so the blade was inches away from the older man’s face. He cowered submissively.

“No need old man. But they interrupted our little talk and for that they’ll pay.” 

Having composed herself, Robin started to back away, along with Alice, and the men followed them. The tavern owner, now free of the threat of the blade, went over to the others and motioned them to follow him behind the counter into the back.

“Talk?! You were threatening them”

“Alice”

“I’d listen to your friend, girl.”

Robin quickly reached out behind her for the bow and arrow strapped to her back and aimed it at the group’s leader. She knew it wasn’t the most ideal for such close combat, but she was hoping it would intimidate them somewhat.

“Your magic would come in handy right about now,” Robin whispered, through gritted teeth as they backed away.

“I am thinking!”

She looked around for some inspiration. They weren’t outside, which limited things a little, unless they wanted to completely wreck the tavern which they didn’t. Oh, if only she could think straight! It was no use. She’d have to try it.

She tried to concentrate as best she could, channelling the growing fear and tension of their current situation, trying to focus on the desire to protect herself and Robin and, hoping it would work and wouldn’t tire her out, she lifted up her hand.

The blast hit their leader square in the chest, knocking him backwards off his feet. As the other two moved towards him to help him up, somewhat stunned by the sudden turn of events and the revelation that they would now have to deal with a magic user, Alice and Robin began to move towards the door.

The two of them ran out of the tavern, closely followed by the three men. Alice knew trying to fight them anymore would have been risky, being outnumbered, even with her magic. Using it to attack, even defensive, was one of her weakest uses of her ability; it came much less naturally to her than, say, simply helping something to grow or conjuring an object up. So, instead, Alice quickly summoned a portal in front of them, the men gaining on them, and the two women leaped through, realising too late that the portal had materialised on an inclined area of woodland. Not too steep, but enough that they were unable to process it fully and subsequently fell down onto the forest floor when they landed. It took Alice a brief few moments for her to regain herself before she remembered to close the portal. But that brief delay was all it took, and their pursuers fell through with them. She and Robin quickly rolled out of the way and got up, Alice catching her bag as she did so.

“Argh!” One of the men was clearly hurt from the fall, sprained ankle by the looks of things, and didn’t look like he particularly wanted to continue this endeavour, which left only the other two to deal with. And they were outside.

Seizing her opportunity before the other two got up, Alice grabbed a sword from where it was held on the injured man’s back and held it out in front of her. The tallest man lifted himself up first and unsheathed his sword, but Alice was ready for him and parried his oncoming attack. The axe wielder stood up, furious and addressed Robin.

“Where have you brought us, girl?! Tell me!” He reached for his axe and advanced. “TELL ME!”

Robin’s fingers were primed over the bowstring, but she didn’t get the opportunity to let the arrow fly. Just as she was about to let go, the man fell to the ground, pulled down by the vine wrapping itself around his feet. Instead, she turned to where Alice was defending herself and lodged the arrow through the other man’s right sleeve into a nearby tree. Another arrow flew to his left as he lifted it up in an attempt to free the right, leaving him stuck to the tree.

“Good shot”

They looked back at the leader. The vine had uncurled itself and had grabbed the axe from his hand, snapping its wooden handle into pieces. But instead of giving him reason to back down and leave them, this somehow just made him angrier.

“Robin, run! I can’t keep the vine-” Alice’s words had barely left her mouth when the vine sank to the ground motionless.

The two turned and ran, avoiding low hanging branches and leaping over exposed roots. 

“Alice?!” They were coming up to what looked to be an unused farmyard, but they didn’t need to still be running.

“I’m trying. Nothing’s - nothing’s happening!”

They turned a corner and hid, their backs against the wall of an old barn as they caught their breath. Once they’d regained some energy back, Alice reached into her bag and extracted the mirror. 

“Why is it not-“ Robin started to ask before her gaze fell on the looking glass in her fiancé’s hand, of which a large piece of it had clearly broken off and a jagged crack now ran from one side of it to the other. “working?...”

“I must have caught it earlier after they nearly bloody landed on us when they came through.” Alice sighed. “Well, they’re away from that family at least,” she whispered.

“Yeah, but they’re still after us and they seem very persistent about it. Come on!” She grabbed Alice’s sleeve and motioned them to continue on, which they did, past the barn and through a cobbled courtyard. A voice some way behind them gave them reason to pick up the pace.

“Over there! Get them” 

“Do they not have anything better to do!?”

As they turned another corner of the farmyard, Robin spotted something out the corner of her eye and slowed down, gripping Alice’s sleeve as she halted. “Hang on, wait, wait look!" An exasperated Alice glanced in the direction her fiancé was indicating and saw the stallion, drinking from a trough beside a tree his owner, wherever they were, had tied him to. Both knowing it would give them the best chance of escaping their pursuers with no looking glass, the two of them began to run towards him. Reaching the steed first, Alice quickly pulled herself up onto the saddle and turned round in the seat to help pull Robin up to sit behind her before quickly untethering the stallion from the tree. Then, with Robin’s arms around her waist, she gripped the reins and commanded the horse forward, the roars of anger and frustration of the men behind them fading away as they went further and further into the forest. As the creature galloped, Robin’s thought’s drifted to the events earlier that day that had led to them having been chased by the group. They’d only intended going into the tavern for a quick drink before heading back home and hadn’t expected to be attacked by bandits. But there was no way they would have ignored them continuously harassing that family like that, so they’d stepped in to help them.

After a while, once they were sure they were in the clear, Alice slowed the horse down to a walk.

Robin lifted herself up straighter from where she had been leaning on Alice during the galloping and took a deep breath. “Well, that’s not how I wanted to spend the evening. Chased by angry men and ending up exhausted and who knows where on a stolen horse. You recognise anything?”

“No, nothing.” Alice sighed and looked around them. The wood had become less dense and through the gaps in the trees to the right of them could be seen a vast body of water, but nothing about it was familiar enough to indicate where exactly the portal had brought them. “And sorry about the slope. I guess I couldn’t concentrate enough, with them gaining on us and everything.”

“It’s ok, if anything it’s my fault. I was a bit harsh on you in the tavern about the magic and everything. Sorry” She gave an apologetic small smile as Alice turned her head briefly round to raise an eyebrow at her before continuing to direct the horse onwards. “Well, you did save me back there. Good job with the vine.”

“It’s left me tired now. But at least we didn’t transport them to the cabin.”

“Yeah, not summoning portals to take us straight home when being chased really was a good idea.” Robin said this whilst reaching into her pocket for her phone and then groaned when she looked at it’s screen. “No signal”

“Didn’t even get a drink.” Alice’s tone was one of teasing, but there was something in the way she ended, with her head slightly down and her voice fading to a whisper that made Robin furrow her eyebrows in concern. It hadn’t been the first time she’d noticed Alice seeming a little off that day, but she seemed even more so now. Before she got the chance to ask what was wrong they’d reached the edge of the forest and-

“-wait, I think I know where we are! We’re in Prydain! Or just on its border. Look! No, at the other side of the river, right there. Honestly Nobin, you’re supposed to be an archer”. Robin nudged her fiancé in response to that remark. “Uh, if I fall off I’m bringing you down with me”

“I bet you will”, came Robin’s flirty reply back. “The Horned King’s castle, right? What’s left of it, anyway”

Alice shivered. “Urgh, that guy gave me the creeps. But that means we’re about a day away on horseback. Give or take”

“Well, we’re not going to get back tonight” Robin looked up at the sky, the light fading fast around them. 

“Hmm… how about over there on the river bank.” 

They reached the location, found a suitable area to set up camp for the night and got down off the horse, tying him up to a nearby tree. 

“I’ll go magic ourselves a tent up. Can you get firewood?”

“Yeah sure.”

Once the two of them had come back, Alice lit the fire, conjured up some food for them to eat for supper and the two settled down for the evening, the eventful last few hours of their day behind them. Soon they’d finished eating.

Alice sat, with her head on her knee, anxiously twiddling her fingers as thoughts raced through her mind. Robin gazed into the fire in front of them, so mesmerised by the dancing of the flames in the darkened evening that she hadn’t yet noticed her love’s nervousness. She yawned and glanced at Alice, sitting up straighter as she noticed her. Robin had seen that look before and knew she had something on her mind that she wanted to tell her.

“Hey, you okay?” She leaned in a little closer to her fiancé, concern etched on her face. Alice’s eyes locked on to Robin’s briefly in response, her hair illuminated in the light of the fire, then looked away again.

There was a pause. “I’m just… thinking.” 

“What about?”

Alice lifted her head from her knee and readied herself to try and get the right words out. “About… us, and what we’re going to be doing and when we want to do things and… whether we should settle down or not when we’re married or wait a bit or…” She sighed. Robin moved over and put her arms around her shoulder, before kissing the side of her head. “I don’t mean we should rush or make plans or anything. I love going exploring with you” Alice leant her head on Robin’s shoulder, “but we do also have a knack of, well-“

“Getting into trouble”

“I was going to say getting into sticky situations but that works too.” That elicited a knowing smile from the archer.

“I get it. But they don’t usually go as bad as it went today. And besides, when did you start being so concerned with safety?”

Alice turned her head away. “I just thought we needed to talk about it, that’s all”. Robin wasn’t entirely convinced that this was the full answer but, not wanting to push her, she dropped the subject. That is until Alice’s voice broke the silence.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while and wanted to try and bring it up soon. But then that happened and it- it brought it to the front of my mind. Of course, I know that marriage doesn’t have to change anything but the future’s so wild and big and exciting.” She paused. “And I wanted to know what you want from it and what you see it including. Or who.” This last sentence of Alice’s was murmured under her breath so quietly that Robin barely heard it and was somewhat puzzled by its meaning.

Then it hit her.

“Alice? Are you… are you getting broody?”

Alice lifted herself up from where she’d been leaning on Robin so forcefully she nearly hit her in the chin. The blonde’s eyes widened. “What, no! Of course not, I-I mean…” Her voice trailed off as she realised she wasn’t convincing anybody, least of all herself. “Maybe… I don’t know. Not yet or anything, but I think… I think I do really want kids in the future and…” Admitting and expressing her thoughts out loud for the first time to Robin made them real, which scared her and gave her pause. 

“Come here”. Alice leaned back to be engulfed by Robin’s arms and nestled herself against her fiancé’s neck. “I’d like that too”

Alice lifted herself up slightly so her eyes, lighting up as a smile slowly beamed across her face, were level with Robin’s own. “Really?” 

Robin nodded lightly and quietly whispered back. “Yeah, I do”

Alice leaned forward, kissing Robin as the flames of the fire crackled, casting their shadows onto the tents behind them. Their lips separated and Alice moved around so the back of her head was resting against Robin’s chest, the other woman’s arms wrapped around Alice’s waist. 

“I spent years in that tower, wondering whether I’d ever get out and tell my own story. To that little girl in the tower everything seemed like an adventure. We’re an adventure. At some point, I want that to be our next adventure.”

“So do I”

They stayed like that for a long while, daydreaming about the future and what it all could possibly have in store.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> I think my characterisation of the two of them is getting better. Originally their talk at the end was a bit more general and the reference to wanting a child was only briefly going to be mentioned, but in the end the conversation ended up being mainly about kids. And yes this is hinting at a future fic (a multichapter fic to be exact) but I want to improve my writing before I start to write it so it won't be here for a while I don't think. 
> 
> My next fic I think is going to be much simpler. A Tilly and Margot date I think.


End file.
